BY MIKEY MIGO
Over the past six months or so I’ve grown to be a little obsessive about my podcast listening habits. It’s mainly just background noise as I work in my office on randomness. I spend about 80% of my time these days in my office in front of screens so I need a lot of background noise.
I’ve become very specific about it. I have my favorites, but that only goes so far. I’ve done numerous searches for new shows to check out. It’s just a really fun medium. The podcasts I seem mostly into are ones about movies, wrestling, and comedy. For those that don’t know, a podcast is like a DIY version of AM radio. It’s a bullshit session, an interview, a rant on politics, a ramble on current events. When you get the right group of people together it can be awesome. When you get the right interview guest it can be awesome. The whole idea of it can be awesome. Sadly, for every one awesome podcast there are seven or eight (dozen?) that suck.
To me a good podcast has to feel real. It can’t feel like a cheesy radio show. I know some will do that kind of stuff on purpose and that’s funny, but there are some who just sound cheesy for no ironic purposes. There are so many little things that go into a good podcast. It’s not as black and white as “entertaining and not entertaining”. You’ll hear and interview with someone uninteresting and the host will fill in ANY silent gap with an “uh huh” or “yeah” or “totally!” or whatever little pointless interjection they decide to use. There are the loud and overly vulgar ones who get old fast. There are those who keep repeating themselves. It’s always fun to hear people talk about inside jokes or things the audience has NO clue on. It’s as if the podcaster is saying, “Thanks for your attention… but now I’m going to disregard you”. That’s where the fine line gets crossed. We’re told over and over again about the prominence of this “new medium” that is podcasting. We’re told how it’s so hip and cool. At the same time, there is a huge hypocritical approach to it. On one hand we’re told of its magic to be able to connect and help build ones fan base and outreach. On the other hand if anyone makes ANY slight judgment of a podcast the podcaster will instantly use the empathetic “it’s JUST a podcast! What’s the big deal!” argument. People are listening. Sure it’s fair to use “But it’s FREE!” as an argument. People are investing their time into this show. If someone is willing to invest an hour or two on a podcast then I’m pretty sure they’d be more willing to watch a show, a movie, or listen to an album. Network TV is free to the viewer, does it not have any obligations to quality or not being full of shit?
That said, I think I want to start a podcast…
|
